Breakdown of Nije bio umoran, naprotiv, bio je pun energije.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
umoran
tired
nisam
am not (nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu)
pun
full
energija
energy
naprotiv
on the contrary
Questions & Answers about Nije bio umoran, naprotiv, bio je pun energije.
Why does the second half of the sentence start with bio je instead of je bio?
The word je is an enclitic (a weak word with no stress), meaning it generally must take the second position in its clause. A comma acts as a boundary that resets this position count. Because an enclitic can never be the first word after a pause, the participle bio takes the first spot, placing je perfectly into the second position.
Why is the word for energy in the genitive case (energije)?
The adjective pun (full) requires the noun that follows it to be in the genitive case. This is quite intuitive for English speakers, as the genitive case here acts just like the English preposition 'of' in the phrase 'full of energy.'
Why do we use the short forms umoran and pun instead of the long forms umorni and puni?
Could I use baš suprotno instead of naprotiv here?
Yes, baš suprotno (exactly the opposite) is a perfect synonym and frequently used in everyday Croatian. However, naprotiv is a very standard, slightly more elegant single-word adverb that specifically means 'on the contrary,' making it a great piece of vocabulary to actively use at the B2 level.
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